Monday, January 21

This quilt is for a dear friend who's expecting her first girl after four boys!

I made an applique owl on plain, thin, white cotton.

I wanted to keep the overall look of the quilt simple and uncluttered, so instead of all-over quilting or tying, I used my machine's eyelet stitch (one of my button hole options) to stitch simple circles at random intervals. They do the trick of keeping the quilt together, without overwhelming the general design.

Friday, January 18

We had a blast spending three weeks in Washington AND avoided a huge blizzard in Arkansas that left many of our friends without power.

My camera died half way through our trip, but here are some highlights from the first week.

Gingerbread decorating with Grandma

Northwest Trek

Annual nativity scene with the cousins

Christmas Eve visit from Santa

(Lucy is apparently too old for Santa)

Traditional Christmas Morning Stairs Photo

The rest of our trip included a visit to the zoo and aquarium, sledding at Mt. Rainier, shell collecting at Owen's Beach, shopping, a fun baby shower thrown by my cousin, lots of late night Time's Up tournaments, New Year's Eve soda tasting, philosophical debates, dessert and Pho consumption, and family time.

We had so much fun, it was hard to leave!

Thanks to babies A and B, who will be making their entrance sometime in the next eight weeks, Grandma J will be coming for a visit of her own!

Tuesday, January 15

Several months ago, I found these darling little stamp necklaces on a British website and thought they would be a fun project for the kids and I to try to replicate.

Just before Christmas, I gathered up some supplies and the kids and we got to work.

You can find the unpainted wooden dolls at any craft store. I got mine at Michael's with their weekly coupon (yay!). They come in two different sizes. Everything else, I pretty much had on hand.

Fist we painted the faces and hair- we used paint pens for the tiny face details. Then, glued a scrap of fabric around the doll's body. Inserted an eye screw into the top of the doll's head. I found sheets of clear stamps in Michael's dollar bins. We cut them to fit and glued them on the bottom of the doll. Lastly, we threaded some hemp twine through the eye screw to finish off the necklace.

The kids LOVED making these. Even Henry, who is five, wanted in on the action! He made a cat and a Transformer. Lucy decorated a small box to hold the necklace and included a little stamp pad for her bestie. The kids gave these out for Christmas gifts to their friends, but I think they would make darling Valentine's or birthday gifts, too.